The Northern Corridor has inched closer to a dual carriageway with the allocation of $1.4 million for visibility studies.

These studies, as per AfDB, aim to assess the economic feasibility of upgrading existing multinational road sections to expressway standards.

Integral to the Northern Corridor, linking Great Lakes countries like Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, and the DRC to the Port of Mombasa, the expressway is viewed as a game changer in transit goods.

Spanning from Kenya's lakeside city of Kisumu, to Kakira in eastern Uganda, the expressway project entails rehabilitating a 104km stretch of the existing two-lane single carriageway to bitumen standards and upgrading it to a two-lane dual carriageway.

Funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the feasibility study aims to gauge the economic viability of this upgrade.

Speaking at the site handover ceremony in Kisumu, EAC Deputy Secretary General Aguer Ariik Malueth revealed that the feasibility study is estimated to take 18 months.

He highlighted the importance of uniform high-quality service along the entire corridor, urging Partner States to upgrade other sections of the Northern Corridor for comprehensive improvement.

Currently, the project's road sections consist of heavily congested two-lane single carriageway bitumen sections, struggling to accommodate increased traffic flow of both cargo and passengers.

Godfrey Enzama, Principal Civil Engineer at the EAC Secretariat, anticipates that the road project will not only enhance transport efficiency but also address safety concerns along the corridor.